Two days after his home was burglarized, Joe Burrow has spoken out about how his privacy was violated “in more ways than one.”
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Whether or not you’re a football fan, you may have heard that the 28-year-old Cincinnati Bengals quarterback is the latest major NFL star to be targeted in a string of recent home robberies.
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After Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ properties were burglarized two days apart in November, Joe’s Ohio home was broken into on Dec. 9 while he was in Texas with the Bengals playing the Dallas Cowboys for Monday Night Football.
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With Joe out of town, a police report — obtained by People and TMZ — said that the robbery was reported by a 22-year-old woman, who told authorities at 8:14 p.m. that she noticed a “shattered bedroom window” and “ransacked” room when she arrived at the property.
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Initially, the 22-year-old was described only as an employee of Joe’s. However, a day later, a police report obtained by TMZ Sport named her as Olivia Ponton — a well-known model and influencer with over 7 million followers on TikTok.
People subsequently reported that Olivia called in the crime.
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The police report suggested that Olivia called her mother about the robbery and that it was her mom, Diane, who first contacted authorities.
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In the audio of the 911 call — obtained by NBC affiliate WLWT-TV and posted on X — Diane can be heard telling the dispatcher: “Someone is trying to break into the house right now. My daughter is there. This is Joe Burrow’s house. She is staying there.”
She continued: “He’s at the football game. She’s wondering what she should do, if she should be hiding, or if she should go outside. She said someone was in the house.”
In a separate 911 call, Olivia herself can be heard saying: “Someone broke into my house … It’s like completely messed up.”
When police arrived at the home, Criminal Intelligence Section photographed the scene and took evidence. Olivia was apparently able to give authorities a “non-detailed itemization of what items were possibly missing.”
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It is unknown why Olivia was at Joe’s home or in what capacity she may or may not be “employed” by him. The NFL star was previously believed to be engaged to his long-term girlfriend, Olivia Holzmacher. However, the pair — who met at college and never confirmed engagement rumors — have not been seen together since January.
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Back in June, a blind item submitted to DeuxMoi suggested that Joe was “single and mingling” and even claimed that he was dating Olivia Ponton at the time. (Of course, these submissions are anonymous and should be taken with a grain of salt.)
Joe has now addressed the situation at a Dec. 11 Bengals press conference, where he immediately preempted questions about the robbery by saying: “So obviously everybody has heard what has happened.”
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Alluding to all that has already been reported about the incident, he said: “I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one, and way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share so that’s all I got to say about that.”
A journalist followed up by asking if the “amount of information” that has been revealed about his personal life is “the most frustrating thing,” which prompted Joe to say that was “part of” his concern.
“We live a public life, and you know, one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy and that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career,” he replied. “Still learning, but I understand it’s a life that that we choose. Doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.”
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As previously mentioned, the invasion comes as the latest break-in in a series of robberies targeted at NFL players. In light of this, the Bengals QB was asked how he feels about his safety knowing that “this hasn’t just happened to [him],” to which he replied: “I’ve said everything I want to say about it.”
